The Shasha - traditional fishing craft of the UAE's East Coast

The Shasha - traditional fishing craft of the UAE's East Coast

(An interview with Abdullah Mohammed Sulaiman; translation by Naser Ali Tajalli & Sheikh Abdullah bin Sohail Al Sharqi)

The Emirate of Fujairah, on the Gulf of Oman (Batinah) coast of the United Arab Emirates, still retains numerous traditions now less common in the larger emirates due to the rapid development which has taken place in the country over the past three decades. It is reasonable to assume, however, that it is only a matter of time before much of the traditional knowledge and expertise developed over centuries disappears. The construction and use of the small fishing boat built of bound bundles of palm fronds known as the shasha (pl., shoosh) represents one of these traditional aspects.

One of the few remaining shasha builders in Fujairah is Abdullah Mohammed Sulaiman, now in his forties. He was introduced by his father at the age of four to the art of shasha building, and is now trying to pass on his knowledge to his sons. In view of the current development process, however, including the introduction of fibreglass boats and the mechanisation of the fishing industry, he doubts that his sons will follow in his footsteps. According to Abdullah, there were traditionally two main families of master shasha builders in Fujairah. One of these is his own and the other is the Drieder family. Each family would hire workers to assist the master builders with their projects. The construction of a shasha could take anywhere between a half to one full day, providing all the materials had been collected and prepared beforehand. One master builder and three or four assistants could construct a boat between 7 am and midday, although with only one assistant a full day is necessary to complete the task.

Ninety percent of the material necessary for building these boats is obtainable from the date palm tree Phoenix dactylifera. The remaining material is gathered from trees located in the mountains, such as the Zizyphus and Acacia. The long fronds of the date palm are prepared by removing the leaves and soaking the stems which will make them pliable and manageable. These stems are tied together securely with a rope made from the date palm. Today nylon rope is often substituted for the original date palm rope.

The base layer of stems is bound tightly and is secured by a frame made of wood from the Zizyphus or Acacia tree. This frame contains seven cross beams along the base with corresponding beams on either side of the boat. The large section of the date palm stem which is attached to the trunk (that is, the branch stumps) was originally used to create buoyancy. Today, however, styrofoam is generally used.

These segments are bound together with date palm rope and secured above the base of the stems. Above this are placed another seven cross beams and a layer of tightly bound stems. The sides of the shasha are also constructed with tightly bound date palm stems. All of the cross beams and stems are secured with the date palm rope. The date palm stems were once also used to construct the fishing cages known as gargour, (pl., garagir) which are now made of metal.

A shasha usually has two oars, one located in the middle and one at the back. These oars are also constructed with wood, again from either Zizyphus or Acacia trees. The shasha usually seats between two and four people, although larger shoosh can also be constructed. These can carry up to five people.

The primary function of the shasha is as a fishing boat and it is, therefore, only designed to travel short distances. The stems used for buoyancy can become heavy due to absorbing of water and thus impede long distance travel. Once a shasha has reached its desired destination, fishing nets or cages can be dropped. The distance travelled is usually no more than 15km. It may also be used for short distance travel, for example from Fujairah to Kalba or Fujairah to Qurayyah.

In the past, fishing trips from Fujairah to the Omani town of Sohar, further down the Batinah coast, were occasionally made. These could last for anywhere between 15 days and a month. For more extensive journeys, for the purpose of coastal trade, for example, large sailing ships, like the Al Baggara, made on the Persian coast of wooden planks sewn together with ropes, were used.

According to S.B. Miles, the shasha boat-type was commonly used on the UAE's East Coast during the late 19th Century. He ascribed this to the lack of shelter available for vessels and to the heavy surf which occurred in these coastal waters. He described the shasha as an illustration of "the singular ingenuity with which the Arab adapts the materials he has at hand to the wants and necessities of his life and avocation". He went on to say that they were very fragile, but so elastic that they could ride the heaviest surf. Miles also said that they were used for fishing and for communicating with larger craft anchored offshore (1).

The shasha is a boat type primarily known from the Batinah (East) Coast in Fujairah and in Oman. Interestingly, there is also a historical reference to the type being present on the island of Socotra, off the tip of the Horn of Africa, and now part of Yemen. During a visit to Socotra in 1897, Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Bent noticed that boat building in the western port of Qalansiyyah was accomplished by the binding together of palm fronds (2). B. Doe has noticed the similarity between these boats and the shoosh still used by fishermen on the Batinah Coast of Oman and Fujairah (3). The similarityof boat type is an indication of the exchange of ideas and of the movements of peoples along the Indian Ocean - East Africa trade route. According to Abdullah, the people of Dibba, at the northern tip of the UAE's East Coast, purchased shoosh from Fujairah but never constructed their own. It is possible, therefore, that this type of seafaring vessel may have originally been developed along the Batinah coast. Abdullah's own family, together with some others, first arrived in Fujairah around seventy years ago, coming from the southern coast of Iran. Upon arrival in Fujairah, they noticed shoosh present in the area, probably imported from further down the Batinah coast, in Oman, and subsequently learned how to build them.

Shoosh have been an integral part of the lifestyle and coastal economy practised along Fujairah's coastline for at least a century. They display traditional local skills and craftsmanship and an understanding of the raw materials available on the UAE's East Coast.

1. Miles S.B. (1966) Countries and Tribes of the Persian Gulf. 2nd ed. London: Frank Cass & Co. Ltd. The first edition of this text was published in 1919.
2. 2. Doe, B (1992). Socotra: Island of Tranquillity. London, Immel Publishing. p. 18
3. 3. Ibid.